Eating 50 facturas

Hola todos!                                                                                     

Sounds like you have a fun spring break trip planned! I was about to say that Provo in the Fall is beautiful, but I guess its not the fall over there is it? Provo’s spring are a little wet and mucky, and that’s probably why you have to go to Zions National Park to get your scenery in. The chill of fall is definitely in the air here, but it’s still hot--only with a chilly breeze. On Friday I was able to make some hot cocoa because it was raining, so there are a few chilly days, but I’ve comfortably worn short sleeves everyday. 

It’s been a difficult but rewarding week in San Fransisco. Pablo again left for a different province to work so we were unable to get him baptized this week, and Elder Cobb had a really bad cold that slowed us down a bit. We spent a lot of time trying to plan an activity for Friday, but on the day there was a giant rain storm and all of the buses in the Province of Buenos Aires shut down. We had to postpone the activity a week. That being said, we also had a lot of success.

We were finally able to talk with Ramona again. We talked with her and learned that she is addicted to cigarettes. We then gave a powerful lesson on why the Lord asks us not to smoke, and the blessings that come from it. The spirit was strong as we testified of his love for her and that he would help her. 

We also had a great lesson with a new investigator that we found last week. We shared the Restoration with her, and then asked her to pray about it to know if it was true. To our surprise she started to pray in that very moment. At first it was a little awkward because we didn´t know what to do, but we waited in silence for a few minutes, and when she raised her head again, we knew that she received her answer. She prayed and said that she felt Bien, Rey Bien. We plan on visiting her again this week.

Funny story of the week. My companion and I bought 50 facturas for the activity this Friday. Facturas are like donuts. The problem is that we bought them the day before, and when the activity was cancelled, well, let’s just say we ate facturas for Dinner, Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and another breakfast.

Anyway, hope yáll having a great life, love you all

Love,

Elder Chipman

Psalm of Stephen

Well it’s been another great week in San Fransisco.                          

First off, We Finally found Pablo! He returned from his business trip and is back for now! He is still excited to be baptized, and he wants it to happen this Saturday! How cool is that! Now we just need to stay in contact with him!

We also knocked on a lot of doors this week, and found some more people to teach. The Branch is doing well, and honestly life is good.

We had zone conference and stake conference this weekend, but I have to admit, it was hard to enjoy. I had some bad Dulce de Leche the day before, and soon after the zone conference lost my lunch in the bathroom. And of course, the leadership meeting of stake conference was about to start, so we had to quickly clean up the mess before people showed up. Luckily that was all that happened and I rested the rest of the day, and was good by Sunday.

We had a fun time last night though. We used an old table that we had and had a mini ping pong tournament after our planning meeting. The rule for Sundays is that we have to be in the pension at 8 so we had some extra time. We all dressed up and it was a lot of fun. I used one of your moustaches that you sent me mom!

That’s awesome that the vista boys are in the final four again. That’s so much fun! Now let’s hope BYU has equal success.

Zone Conference was interesting because it showed me a lot of the president’s expectations for me as a missionary. Overall, I can do better, but I’m not too far away from what I need to be. I guess it’s always a battle. But one thing I realized is the Bible and the Book of Mormon are full of stories of trials, wars, battles, afflictions, and sicknesses. They had good times yes, but they usually cover them in a verse or two because there isn’t too much to learn from them. We learn from hard times, kinda like good sports stories. The movie “Miracle” would be terrible if it was about a USA hockey team who beat the crud out of everybody and won gold. It is only interesting and inspiring because of what they overcame.

There you go! You can call that Psalm of Stephen, Chapter 1.  Or maybe you can just keep all my quotes like that and make a “New York Times Bestseller of inspiring Quotes from Stephen Chipman.”

It’s amazing how much more the gospel makes sense the more I learn about it. I don’t know too much, in fact everyday I learn how much I don’t know or understand. But everyday the spirit reveals to me simple truths that are all connected. So every day brings a blessing, even if get sick once in a while.

Hope all is well at home! Keep Moving Forward!

Love

Elder Chipman

I've been learning how to cook

Sunset in San Fran

Hola Todos 

                                                                                        

 It’s been another good and sunny week in San Fransisco!

We have been working hard and finding a lot of people to talk to, and we are seeing miracles everyday. We are still having trouble finding Pablo, but we heard that he got home on Saturday night, so we hope to talk with him soon! And our other investigator Ramona, had to take care of her mother, who fell and broke her hip. So we did a lot of finding this week and had a lot of cool experiences and found a lot of new people to teach. I love it when we get to teach new investigators, because usually we get to share the restoration, and every time we share the first vision, the spirit is there, and it’s always so peaceful.

That is awesome how I got a shout out at Stake Conference! --even if it is by error. Poor President Walker, there must be a lot of stress to remember all the missionaries, especially now.

I’m finally getting to a place where I understand the majority of the things that people are saying to me, and I can usually respond to their question. I do have a problem with the words cansado, and casado, one means tired, and the other means married. So the question "Are you tired?" It gets a lot more personal when you don’t say it right. But I’m learning.

I’m actually learning how to cook. I can now make pizza, pancakes, and homemade noodles without recipes, so there you go! I also tried a little bit of matté this week. We can’t drink it with members, but we can drink it in the pension if it’s in tea bags. It’s a comforting taste, but I have to put a lot of sugar in it in order to enjoy it. Elder Cobb and I also tried to make Empanadas this week for lunch. We just wanted to make about 10, but with our inexperience, we ended up making about 42. They were actually really good though, and we were able to snack on them for a long time.

 

The empanadas we made

I’m doing pretty well. Elder Cobb is awesome and is a lot like Danny, which is nice, and we get along well. I’m super tired all of the time, but I’m kinda getting used to it. And we’re even starting to run in the morning, which is awesome, I love it.

 

Me & Elder Cobb

Today is supposed to be Carnival. You know that big holiday with all the colors and everything? Well that’s only in Brazil. Here, it’s more of the same as every other holiday. Lots of beer and music, and I’m sure tomorrow, everyone’s going to sleep in all day with a hang over. But that’s how it is.

Overall, things are good. We are enjoying life here en el campo. We sometimes have to bike through cow herds and usually pass a dead dog or two every day, but as smelly as that is, we are all good. Hope all of you are at home are enjoying life!

Have a good week!

With love,

Elder Chipman

Life is good!

Hola Todos    

Happy Birthday Mom & Dad! 

So you got bed sheets and shoes for your birthdays? Man, maybe you are getting old. If it makes you feel any better, every time I show your pictures to the people here, they think you guys are my brothers and sisters because you look so young. Maybe its because you guys haven’t lived fifty years in the South American Sun. Seriously, I meet 40 year olds that look like they are in their 70´s.

Hey Dad, thanks for your advice. I can even start considering it wisdom from an Elder, because you are FIFTY YEARS OLD. That´s gotta hurt, I mean that, and your back, your knees, and hips, and every other things that hurts when your old.  Ha-ha

We’ve had another great week in San Francisco. Fall is approaching which means the weather is a lot cooler, but the best part is that it’s not raining, so it’s been pretty perfect. 

We were again unable to contact Pablo this week, so I guess his baptism will be this Saturday. Apparently he had a last second business trip to another Province in Argentina called Corrientes, but he is back now! We are also continuing to teach Ramona. She truly is amazing. When we ask her to read something, she reads it, when we ask her to pray, she prays. It’s no surprise that we are seeing a difference in her life, and she is seeing the difference as well. 

Elder Cobb and I are getting along great and enjoying life here in Argentina. He’s easy going and pretty funny, so it’s a breath of Fresh air. I sent some pictures of our area. There is a lot of farm land. One of our investigators lives out in the middle of no where, and that’s where the pictures are taken. There are other places where there are lots of houses, but we don’t take too many pictures of that.

We have probably seen 10 dead dogs on the side of the road which is pretty gross, and it smells really bad. And we also see some pretty weird stuff. A few days ago we were just riding our bikes and a car passed us on the road only to lose his tire while in movement. I don’t know, maybe I’m just inexperienced but I’ve never seen that before.

Life is good right now. I’m super tired, and at times wonder how I’m going to finish this thing up, but I guess those phases come and go. Elder Cobb has a harmonica too, so we are practicing hymns where one plays the melody and the other plays the base, I’m getting pretty good at it just so you know.

Honestly I am super happy. I feel the spirit in my life everyday, and we get to enjoy its company when we do what’s right. We get to share the happiest message in the world every single day of our lives, and every single time we share the first vision, a spirit fills the room. We get to help others come to Christ and see their lives are blessed. Truly a great experience.

I know these things are a reality. That Christ lives and truly loves us more than we can know. He is a real being, and he really is our Savior and Redeemer. All we need to do is accept his invitation, and Come unto Him.

Anyway, Les Amo Mucho. Tengan una buena semana!

Love 

Elder Chipman

I love the area and the language is finally kicking in

Hola Todos!                                                                           Feb 17, 14

Wow, we had a great week here in San Francisco, and it sounds like you have had a good week too. Man that skiing trip sounded awesome. I always wanted to be able to ski a bowl, but whenever I was able to go it was either early or late in the season and they usually didn’t have a lot of snow.

Sounds like the Olympics are fun and slushy. I think they should try to go to a place without palm trees next time. They had the same problem last time too. Maybe if they just went somewhere super cold, like really cold, they won’t have the same problems, because while location is important, snow is more important.  I miss the Winter Olympics, they’ve always been some of my favorite, but then again, being in Argentina is pretty cool. They don’t have much of a team, so I rarely hear about the Olympics in general.

To start, the rain has stopped a little bit which is nice, things are drying out a bit as of now, but earlier this week the roads were pretty mucky. Our bikes were having trouble because the chains would get all muddy, then we’d have a lesson, and they would dry off and have a thick layer of mud encrusted on the chain. So with that, our chain usually fell off about every block. On Wednesday we were heading down the road and the chain fell off my companion’s bike. WE were getting a little tired of always fixing up our bikes, so we came up with the brilliant idea that maybe we just needed to ride through the mud to lubricate the bike chain. So without giving it much thought, we plowed into the biggest mud puddle we could find. It was in the middle of the puddle we realized that we didn’t think this plan through very well. My bike chain fell off midway through this mud puddle and so I had muddy shoes the rest of the day.

Elder Cobb, my companion, is a great Elder and really funny. We laugh a lot and are enjoying the work. He’s really nice, patient, and easy going.  He actually reminds me of my BYU roommate, Danny. We get along very well. He’s teaching me a lot about working with members and how to just relax. I learned that obedience is important, but it’s an attitude. If I am stressed to be exactly obedient, I still can’t feel the spirit because I’m over worried. So both disobedience and over-stressing about obedience result in the same thing. I have honestly felt the spirit stronger this week than any other week.

I’m really happy. I love the area and the language is finally kicking in. I think I have more challenges in the upcoming months, in fact, I know I do, but it’s nice to know that I can have at least a small break, or at least an easier time. I still miss you a lot and had a dream that I was able to give you a super big hug. Which was nice =). There are many miracles seen every day, and we are enjoying every minute of it.

The area is progressing well. We visit a lot of members, fishing for referrals and in truth, we are starting to get some. We were unable to talk to Pablo this week so we had to postpone the baptism for next Saturday. We also have an investigator named Ramona who is progressing very well. She is on track to be baptized on March 1st.

Miracle of the week, found out that one of the Elders before we came left a bottle of Root Beer Extract, so we’re going to be making root beer tonight.

I’ll send pictures next week because I forgot my SD card today.  I learned how to make homemade pasta and a member has some super cute puppies that I need to show Allie, so they will come next week!

Thanks for all of your prayers. I love you all and hope you’re all doing well!

Elder Chipman

The days go by like hours, the weeks like days...

Hola Todos                                                                                         Feb 9, 2014

It’s been another great week in San Francisco with a few changes. I have a new companion named Elder Cobb, from North Carolina. I think we will get along really well! He plays the harmonica too. He knows how to play Piano Man on the Piano and harmonica at the same time! He has been about a year on the mission, but came the same day I did to Argentina because of Visa Problems. I’ve only known him for about 4 hours, but I know its going to be a good transfer.

We went to the temple just because the President said that we could go. The mission assigned our district a day and time and we went and enjoyed a session. I hope we can do that quite often. It was so nice to go just to feel the spirit. I Just got to sit and reflect on my life at the moment and feel peace. It was really nice.

I´m actually really happy. Sure it’s hard, but nobody said that I couldn´t be happy and have a trial at the same time. Missions are hard things because I miss being comfortable and at home, but then again, I´m learning so much. The days are going by  me as if they are hours, and the weeks  go by like days. It’s really weird.

That being said, the rain hasn’t really stopped, but we are navigating through the mud and puddles fairly well. We received a referencía from a member on Thursday. Her name is Ramona and she is super prepared. We taught her about prayer and the member that is her friend bore her testimony about prayer, by the end of the testimony both the member and Ramona were crying. Always a good sign.

We also plan on having a baptism on Saturday. Pablo came to church on Sunday, so he is finally ready to make that covenant with our Father in Heaven.

We had an interesting experience on Friday. We were just straightening things up in the pench before we headed out for the day and out of no where, the shelves where we kept our food collapsed. There was soy sauce and corn flakes everywhere. Talk about a mess. Then about 5 minutes later, our desk broke sending our books to the floor. Talk about remodeling. Anyway after a morning of cleaning, we got it all figured out.

Funny story: I was talking to a member on Sunday at church and he just pointed behind me. When I looked, I saw President Thurgood. I guess he decided to have a surprise visit in San Francisco. It was cool! He´s a really nice and loving man. We had an investigator there with us so it was all good!

Now about the Olympics.  Thanks for sending some pictures and telling me about it.  If the press is complaining about stray dogs, they should come to Argentina.  I don’t think they wouldn’t rag on Russia any more because this place has so many stray dogs.  I hate the American stereotype that we are a bunch of rich snobs, so I hope we aren’t acting like that because then we deserve the crummy stereo type.  Oh well, the Americans really showed the world our greatness with our ugly Christmas Sweaters in the opening ceremonies-- how terrible were those! I think Mr. Ralph´s Grandma must have hand-made each and every one of those sweaters, so maybe we should be more considerate ha-ha.

Hope all is well at home, stay warm. I know God lives and Jesus is the Savior of the world. Never forget that. He is always by our sides. And he will never leave. No matter what we do and say, he will always be there, inviting us back that we, through his sacrifice, can return to live with him again. I love you and hope all is well at home. I still pray for you, so don´t worry, you´ve got blessings coming your way. It just might be delayed because I´m in Argentina, but they will come =)

Elder Chipman

There is a broken heart in Argentina....

Stephen today at the Buenos Aires Temple

Hola Todos,                                                                                         

Sorry, we have P-day today and not on Monday because we went to the temple this morning! 

The Buenos Aires temple is really pretty. It was really cool going through the session in Spanish, and it helped that I knew a lot of things in English so I could translate it when I needed too. Overall, it was a really nice and cool thing and  it was worth waiting for a few more days.

Primero, I want to let you know that there is a broken heart down in Argentina as well.  I’m sorry about the Broncos, but I’m really happy I missed it.  The Broncos had a great season and I’m sure there will be another super bowl soon! Dad, you can delete the recording and don’t buy me a season review DVD (But if you want to buy me a “Man of Steel” DVD before I get home, I’m ok with that still =) Let’s just say I’m not too disappointed that I missed the whole thing. At least they are waiting for me!

It’s been another good week here in San Francisco. We have had a lot of rain.  It is South American rain, and so it is drenching. When it’s not raining its nice and cloudy with a lot of mud. I guess the rain invited all of the mosquitoes to wake up or something because I swear I’ve lost about 50% of the blood in my body to the mosquitoes. I’m even starting to realize that there are different species of mosquitoes here--which is something that I’ve never considered. 

Other than the mosquitoes, it’s been a good week. We are still working with Pablo, and hopefully get him baptized next Saturday. He only needs to come to church! We are also finding a lot of other people so the work is continuing. We had about 18 people in sacrament meeting in total, and only 7 in Sunday school, and we didn’t have 3rd hour because we just didn’t have the numbers or the people to get it done, so we ended church after 2 hours.

I also got your package with the valentine stuff! The fudge is still good and I haven’t opened the cards, but I opened Megan’s Christmas Present (the Snow Globe). And saw the duck! I also got the letter with the comics and all of the good Broncos Articles, so thank you! Also, could you say thank you to Brother and Sister Champlain? They bought me a J. Garcia tie because they saw one in the store and thought of me. I’m wearing it right now!

I love you and miss you. I’m already a third of the way there. Its weird but true, time is flying by. We have transfers on Monday so we’ll see if I can write or not, but I’ll do what I can to make it happen. 

Until Monday

Elder Stephen Chipman

PS: I couldn’t find a basketball so I bought a soccer jersey of a team in my zone. It was only 10 American dollars. Hope you don’t mind.